Good News Week - post here if you've heard some :-)

[KW]

Amidst the doom and gloom (worst market fall in 14 years etc etc) there are some quite fantastic company results being announced. So here is the place to post them, to prove that the sky is not actually falling!

I shall kick off with todays announcements:

EZL - NPAT up 91%. 47c final div, (54c YTD, up 54%, and makes the div yield almost 13%)

TFC - NPAT ugraded from expected 15% increase to 54% increase.

[whatsup]

Yeh , the sun rose today!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Big Ease]

the sun is shining in london.
its actually a blue sky day. you have no idea how rare an occasion this is.

[mark100]

The good news is that more and more analysts are becoming bearish. Almost all analysts were bullish at the top of the market so when they all become bearish you know what time that is. I'm just not sure how long it will be until that happens

[The Big Ease]

The good news is that more and more analysts are becoming bearish. Almost all analysts were bullish at the top of the market so when they all become bearish you know what time that is. I'm just not sure how long it will be until that happens

sup-prime resets peak in july.
give a couple of months for them to feed through the system and then for consensus to catch up. this gives you a negative second half of 2008. its going to be a sh!t year, but i think the decks are being cleared for a strong recovery in the latter half of 2009.

thats gotta be good news....kinda

[shasta]

sup-prime resets peak in july.
give a couple of months for them to feed through the system and then for consensus to catch up. this gives you a negative second half of 2008. its going to be a sh!t year, but i think the decks are being cleared for a strong recovery in the latter half of 2009.

thats gotta be good news....kinda

Oversea's trips just got a fraction cheaper...

Last $25 departure fee start of new era at Auckland Airport

http://www.stocknessmonster.com/news-item?S=AIA&E=ASX&N=300924

[COLIN]

Oversea's trips just got a fraction cheaper...

Last $25 departure fee start of new era at Auckland Airport

http://www.stocknessmonster.com/news-item?S=AIA&E=ASX&N=300924

Shasta, I am sure you know that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
You will still pay this fee one way or another.
But, in the good news department, I sold my PRC before the afternoon's slide gained momentum!

[shasta]

Shasta, I am sure you know that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
You will still pay this fee one way or another.
But, in the good news department, I sold my PRC before the afternoon's slide gained momentum!

Colin

You're onto it, they are going to start a "PSC", Passenger Service Charge to the airlines in lieu...

So guess what's next...?

[The Big Ease]

Care to elaborate on your 2009 recovery prediction ?

sure.
identification of subprime bad debts (which are actually quite low as a % of total housing loans), write-offs and recapitalisation of the major global banks leading to improved conditions in the credit market.

anticipated boom in global spending on infrastructure over the next few years.

continued growth in developing countries

time for action from central banks to act on inflation and for its effects to begin taking hold

all in all, i think 2ndhalf of 2009 will see us through.

of course, there is much on the other side of the ledger to suggest we are the beginning of a potential multi-year recession. however, this is the "good news" thread ;)

we have had a consumer recession here in the UK for about 8 months now. once the financial side fixes itself up, we will see business investment increase, which will flow onto consumer confidence. of course, nothing is certain. anything could happen. but thats my predictive narration...

[redzone]

ceu....upgrade to buy...very few are getting that....and of course national having a go at ACC....GREAT....And Labour say they are lining their overseas rich mates pockets....and the kiwisaver fund managers arent overseas companies.....

[thereslifeafter87]

Amidst the doom and gloom (worst market fall in 14 years etc etc) there are some quite fantastic company results being announced. So here is the place to post them, to prove that the sky is not actually falling!

I shall kick off with todays announcements:

EZL - NPAT up 91%. 47c final div, (54c YTD, up 54%, and makes the div yield almost 13%)

TFC - NPAT ugraded from expected 15% increase to 54% increase.


You might want to check the detail of EZL's announcement.

A lot of their revenue comes from new listings. New listing activity was huge last calendar year but has practically evaporated this year. Their earnings are likely to evaporate also.

TFC - an interesting one. The question is what happens to sandalwood oil prices when all the new australian supply becomes available....

[KW]

There may not be many new listings coming up, but there is an avalanche of rights issues underway for listed companies. When the debt markets close, companies are forced to look to the equity markets to raise funds. This could be an even bigger year for EZL as a result.

(Actually this was also an argument put forward in favour of CPU being a good opportunity)

TFC - depends on the price elasticity of sandalwood oil. Cheaper prices could increase demand, which will increase sales, and profits. ECON 101.

[KW]

DTL (Data3) has announced that 08 earnings will be higher than previously forecast.

[winner69]

Diligent (even thoiugh on NZX) sales up 66% must be good news

[Dr_Who]

Holy crap aussie market down 3.3%. NAB caught up in the US money printing machine press. :eek:

[underDOG]

property fund...

OIF up 40% for the week

[tricha]

China Debt Rating Raised to A+ by S&P as Currency Reserves Jump

By Nipa Piboontanasawat
July 31 (Bloomberg) -- China's debt ratings were raised by Standard & Poor's after its foreign-exchange reserves (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=CNGFOREX%3AIND) surged to a record $1.8 trillion and the world's fastest-growing major economy withstood weaker U.S. demand for exports.
China's long-term rating increased one level to A+, the fifth-highest grade, putting the country on a par with Italy. Hong Kong's rating rose the same margin to AA+.
The nation's economy (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=CNGDPYOY%3AIND) grew more than 10 percent for a 10th straight quarter in the three months through June and the currency reserves rose 36 percent from a year earlier. An improved government balance sheet offers ``greater resilience'' in the event of a sharp economic downturn, S&P said in a statement.
``The upgrade is expected and China deserved it,'' said Frank Gong (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Frank+Gong&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), head of China research at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong. ``China's external payment abilities have continued to improve and its economic growth is faster than other countries.''
Credit-default swaps linked to China's government debt fell 1 basis point to 55 at 5:11 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to Barclays Capital's prices. That means it costs $55,000 a year to protect $10 million of China's debt from default for five years. The cost has fallen from 72 basis points at the end of June.
S&P's assessment of China is now in line with Moody's A1 and Fitch's A+ grades.
CNOOC, China Mobile
S&P also upgraded Chinese and Hong Kong companies including China Mobile Ltd. and CNOOC Ltd. and financial institutions including China Development Bank. The move may reduce borrowing costs for the companies, whose ratings are constrained by China's sovereign ceiling.
China's government and companies had $392.6 billion of foreign debt at March 31.
The ratings change ``won't impact the yuan's exchange rate in the short term as the central bank has shown its intention to slow down yuan appreciation,'' said Shi Lei (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Shi+Lei&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), an analyst at Bank of China Ltd. in Beijing. ``But it will affect people's long- term expectation of yuan appreciation.''
China's currency has climbed 6.9 percent against the dollar this year, a faster pace than a year earlier, as the government tries to tame inflation driven by food and energy costs.
Export growth slowed to 21.9 percent in the first half from 25.7 percent in all of 2007 on weaker demand in the U.S., where a report tomorrow may show the economy lost jobs for a seventh consecutive month.
Policy Fine-Tuning
China may be fine-tuning economic policy to put a bigger emphasis on growth, even as the government tries to douse inflation that accelerated to the fastest pace in 12 years in February, according to Gong (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Gong&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) and Sun Mingchun (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Sun+Mingchun&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), an economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong.
July 25 and 27 statements by the Communist Party's political bureau and the central bank didn't use ``tight monetary policy,'' a term in previous government documents.
China's first upgrade by S&P in two years ``reflects continuing improvements in the government's fiscal position, the country's strong external asset position and its exceptional economic growth potential,'' S&P said. The strengths outweigh the possibility of bank loans turning soar in a slump, it said.
The ratings outlook is stable, S&P said. It raised the short-term rating to A-1+, the highest level, from A-1.
``The ratings could be raised again if structural reforms lead to sustained improvements in the operational and financial performances of key domestic industries, especially financial institutions,'' S&P said. ``Conversely, a flagging reform effort, in combination with a markedly weaker economic performance and worsening banking sector credit metrics than we currently expect, could result in downward pressure on the ratings.''
China's expansion is the quickest of the world's 20 biggest economies.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nipa Piboontanasawat (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Nipa+Piboontanasawat&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) in Hong Kong at npiboontanas@bloomberg.net (npiboontanas@bloomberg.net)
Last Updated: July 31, 2008 07:08 EDT

[tricha]

7:37 AM, 29 Aug 2008 [/URL]
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Alan Kohler

Bernanke's miracle





(http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/INTERVIEW-Chris-Warren-HY96Z?OpenDocument&src=spb)


The export boom in the United States and the mining investment boom in Australia are simply stunning.

This morning’s revision of US second quarter GDP to 3.3 per cent annual growth is an extraordinary testament to the resilience of American capitalism – despite an almost complete shutdown of its credit markets, the US economy is now the fastest growing of the G7.

What an irony that the countries most affected by America’s lending excesses are the more prudent Europe and Japan, both of which look like going into recession (the UK is also being hit hard, but it wasn’t prudent).

What we have learned in the past 24 hours is that although the world’s banking system is in disarray because the excess and incompetence of those in charge produced a credit bubble, real business and trade is so far surviving the downfall of the bankers.

Global banks have now written off $US504 billion in losses and raised just $US353 billion of new capital, most of it from Asian and Middle East sovereign wealth funds.

That means the global banking capital base has been reduced by $US150 billion. Assuming a 12 times gearing based on Basel capital rules, that implies a $US1.8 trillion reduction in aggregate lending capacity, which is equal to about 3 per cent of world GDP.

To a large extent the resilience of the US economy in the face of this can be put down to Ben Bernanke. The student of the central banking mistakes of the Great Depression first cut the official rate by 0.5 per cent in September last year and in six months reduced it from 5.25 to 2 per cent – one of the most dramatic monetary policy moves in history.

It may be that the second quarter growth number for the US, revised overnight from 1.9 per cent to 3.3 per cent, is the high water market for the American economy, but at the very least the recession has been postponed.

As with Australia, the US economy now has a split personality – weak domestic demand because of the combination of consumer deleveraging, falling house prices and high gasoline prices, and a booming export sector because of the weak US dollar.

As the currency stabilises and Europe, UK and Japan slip into recession, that growth will moderate.

The big risk to US growth remains the unravelling financial sector. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has increased its list of troubled banks to 117, and while that’s only 1.5 per cent of the 8,000 or so banks that the FDIC regulates, the trend of bank failures is up, not down.

As more banks collapse, there must be a strong chance of another major liquidity shortage in the months ahead, requiring Treasury credit lines to be tapped and leading to more volatility on financial markets.

As for Australia, in one way the continuing capital investment boom simply adds another chapter to a six-year story of a central bank tapping the brakes but failing to slow the lorry down.

The last monetary policy statement from the RBA suggests that Governor Glenn Stevens and his colleagues believe they have finally done it, and that rates will be cut in September – but have they?

Most economists this morning still reckon there will be a rate cut on Tuesday – 0.25 per cent, not 0.5 per cent – but as with the US, the Australian recession has been adjourned, perhaps sine die.

[wns]

Both companies announced very good results recently. BHP's profits set for a massive increase in FY09 over FY08.

I bought BHP at the start of the week, my first purchase this year.

[h2so4]

My portfolio inched into profit today. Thats good news, mind you 99 is way ahead of me.

Over and out chief.

[tricha]

yay, some good news.



Wells Fargo expects record profit


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45650000/jpg/_45650189__45075381_fe91be7a-1324-4e3b-aae5-d4b6b0ab014f.jpg Wachovia has boosted Wells Fargo's profits

US bank Wells Fargo has surprised investors by bucking the recession, saying it expects a record net profit. The bank said profit will be $3bn in the first quarter, thanks to better-than-expected results at newly-acquired lender Wachovia.
Wells Fargo bought Wachovia, which was the fourth-largest US bank, after it almost collapsed last year.
"Wachovia's outstanding franchise has proven to be everything we thought it would," the bank said.
Wachovia merger
The bank said it expected revenue of $20bn for the quarter, translating into "another quarter of double-digit revenue growth" of 16%.
Banking giant Citigroup had initially tried to block the merger between Wachovia and Wells Fargo.
But the US Federal Reserve approved Wells Fargo's $12bn takeover after its all-stock offer.
Wells Fargo's results are set to include $372m in dividend payments to the US Treasury, which took a stake in many banks in exchange for a cash injection.
US financier Warren Buffett has a stake in Wells Fargo through his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, which has lost its top credit rating from Moody's.
Bank shares
Wells Fargo's announcement is the latest in a line of positive statements from banks such as Citigroup, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank about their performances in 2009.
Shares in the bank surged 32% by the end of trading on Wall Street.
Its shares led US banking stocks higher and helped to push the broader Dow Jones average of US stocks up 2.3%.
Bank of America shares gained 20.7%, Citigroup rose 8.5% and JP Morgan climbed 11.4%.

[Hoop]

Maybe the car manufacturers are building the wrong type of 4 wheel transport. :D toot..toot


Tractor sales on track

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/images/uploadedfiles/editorial/pictures/2009/03/26/SALES1_STORY_-_DEEP_HORIZONTAL_FF425096_59705.JPG Staying positive: confidence among tractor dealers remains high despite the global economic woes.

Mark Saunders
March 30, 2009

ALMOST 12,000 tractors were sold in Australia last year, the best result for many years.
The tractor sales figures, compiled by the Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia (http://www.tractormachinery.com.au/index.asp), represent a significant gain on 2007 with the total sold up nearly 9 per cent.
There have only been two other years since 1996 that tractor sales broke the 12,000 mark.
Leading the sales surge were larger horsepower tractors. Sales of tractors greater than 90kW jumped almost 32 per cent on 2007, with 2005 delivered last year.
The bulk of the sales were in the 30-90kW bracket, where 6805 tractors were sold, a rise of almost 6 per cent on 2007.
Smaller tractor sales continue to remain buoyant with 3187 sold last year, up 10.6 per cent on 2007.
The TMA's Vin Delahunty said the sales results were a "solid set of numbers".
"While the 2008 result is not spectacular, at the TMA conference held recently at Brisbane, the mood from machinery dealers was very positive," Vin said.
The value of the tractors sold last year was $887 million, up more than $100 million on 2007 but lower than the 2005 high of $1.1 billion, when 12,575 tractors were sold.
Vin said the fluctuating value of the Australian dollar had also affected the value of imported machinery.
"We can see a $300 to $400-million shift in the value of tractors sold in Australia in a 12-month period," Vin said.
He was speaking at the launch of a new Landini (http://www.landinitractors.com.au/manufacturer.asp?id=3)tractor at the MCG last week, where managing director of the Power Farming Group, Geoff Maber, said there was never a better time to be in agriculture. "Agriculture is facing the least challenges from the global economic downturn," he said.
"Australia is well-placed for the future as the food bowl of Asia," Geoff said.
"I believe in 10 years we could see Australian tractor sales hit 15,000 to 20,000 units a year."